In a move that historic
preservationists fear could be repeated in any number
of Chicago-area suburbs, a Winnetka homeowner on Friday
demolished one of the few pre-Civil War homes still standing
in the north suburb.

The action came about seven months
after the man had bought the property for $12 million,
reportedly one of the highest prices paid for an area house
in recent years.

The owner is George Garrick, presumed
to be the 48-year-old Internet venture capitalist of the
same name. He razed an 11-room, Colonial-style house at 595
N. Sheridan Rd. in order to build another home on the other
end of a 3 1/2-acre lakefront lot, a Winnetka preservation
official said.

On Friday afternoon, all that was left
of the handsome, white, two-story home was a huge pile of
rubble.

"The audacity of someone spending $12
million on a house and then to tear the thing down-- it's
just amazing," said David Bahlman, executive director of the
Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois. "It was a real
beauty."

The house had no local, state or
federal landmark status, so preservationists and village
officials were virtually powerless to stop the demolition.
The house had been significantly remodeled in the 1920s,
with the white-clapboard Colonial constructed around the
smaller, 1854 Italianate-style structure.

Local preservationists say a piece of
local history was lost.

"When you look at the sheer age of
that wing of the house--almost 150 years -it's a huge loss,"
said Nan Greenough, a Winnetka resident who had labored for
months to save the structure.

But even more, preservationists are
concerned that other homes of historical merit and
architectural beauty could succumb to the wrecking ball
because of weak or non-existing landmark preservation laws
in many Chicago-area suburbs.

Winnetka has a Landmarks Preservation
Commission that serves as an advisory board to village
officials. But unlike in Chicago and many communities, the
commission is not authorized to designate a property as a
landmark--thereby prohibiting demolition or significant
alteration to the property--without the owner's
consent.

Garrick could not be reached for
comment.

According to Greenough, Winnetka
officials offered zoning variances that would accommodate
both properties on the parcel, but Garrick declined the
offer. She said he also declined one person's offer to help
move the house to another site.

For most of the last century, the
Brach family of candy fame had owned the house. Edwin Brach,
who operated the Chicago-based confections firm with his
brother Frank, bought the house in 1924. Edwin Brach died in
1965, and his widow, Hazel, moved to Arizona in the 1970s,
leaving the house to stand idle, preservationists
said.

It was uncertain whether Garrick had
ever taken up residence in the house since buying it last
July from the Brachs.

The Brachs had bought the home from
Gilbert and Helen Hubbard, who bought it in 1871 after
migrating from Chicago in the wake of the Great Chicago
Fire, Greenough said. Gilbert Hubbard developed vast parcels
of heavily wooded land near the lakeshore in Winnetka that
he dubbed Hubbard Woods, a name that stands
today.

Greenough and Bahlman said they hoped
the high-profile demolition will bring to light the weak or
non-existent landmark protection laws in Winnetka and many
other suburbs. But Greenough lamented that she sees little
political will in her village to strengthen such
laws.

"There is the philosophy here that
property rights should be respected, but there is also a
contingent that believes Winnetka is not the place for
teardowns and rebuilds," Greenough said. "But I am not
optimistic the law will change."

Indeed, neighbors along Sheridan Road
said they were not upset that the house is gone.

"Whoever bought it can do whatever
they want with it," next-door neighbor Carry Buck said.
"This is America."

Bahlman said the owner of another
"even more magnificent" Winnetka home, designed by acclaimed
architect Howard Van Doren Shaw, wants to demolish his
structure along Mt. Pleasant Road.

"Time is running out for these
wonderful places," he said. "I don't know what to do when we
start having $12 million teardowns."